What'd I Miss?
by Yeahjusttrash
Summary: The Moon Theater has just reopened and things are going well... until Meena gets hit in the head and goes to the hospital. When Meena wakes up, she finds things aren't quite as she's use to. Between weird weather, bizzard behavior from coworkers, and one particular gorilla acting strangely affectionate; Meena is clearly missing something! I don't own any of these characters!
1. Chapter 1

**I had a goal to not post this until I had it entirely completed, but I'm like 7 chapters in and kinda want to see if I can get feedback on it. Side note, this had started as a oneshot that got really long and I got really invested in, so I slip it up into chapters. Enjoy!**

 **(sorry in advance for all the inevitable spelling errors I could find!)**

—

Meena woke slowly, becoming more and more aware of the aching in her head. She groaned and tried to blink the blurriness from her eyes. Where was she?  
"Hmmm... mom?" Meena croaked out towards a familiar blur.  
"Right here, baby girl." Leslie's voice was hushed and nurturing.  
Meena blinked a few more times. The room came more into view and she became aware of mechanical beeping next to her. Her words still slurred a bit. "Mom... where am I?"  
"St. Martin's, honey. Don't worry, just rest."  
"Im in a hospital?" Meena immediately became more alert. She tries to sit up, but her head swam from pain and her mother's arms gently eased her back down. "How...how did I get here?"  
"Easy, baby. You're alright." Meena could hear the soothing smile in her mother's voice and it put her more at ease. "You got knocked in the head with a sandbag back at the theater. Don't worry, the doctors said you'll be fine. You don't have an concussion or anything. You'll just be taking it easy for a bit." Sandbag to the head, now that sounded familiar. Meena has fallen victim to the same fate as Pete from the original singing competition cast. She would have thought all the faulty stage rigging would have gotten cleared out when the theater was rebuilt. The theater had just reopened and they had already had their first accident. Which was weird because she couldn't remember the events leading up to her getting clocked in the head at all. Meena sighed, at least she wasn't freaking out about being hospitalized now.

She felt her bed being adjusted so she was propped up more. More awake now, the she looked around and saw they were not alone in the hospital room. Ash and Johnny were curled up on a pair uncomfortable hospital chairs not far off, both asleep.

"What are they doing here?" Meena puzzled, she hadn't expected to see her coworkers at her bedside.

"They came with you, baby." Leslie gave Meena a look like that would be a given. "They hopped in the ambulance with you. Ash called me and told me what was happening." When did Ash get Leslie's number? And why? The two had only met in passing at theater events.

Meena was going to ask about the phone number, but Leslie's nudged the pair with her trunk to wake them. Blurry eyes landed on Meena and lite up. Meena almost taken aback by how happy they were to see her. She wore an uneasy smile and both came up to her bedside and asks how she was feeling. It was sweet of they to be so concern, but this seemed a much! She was pretty sure no one from the theater went with Pete. And sure, they had all bonded a bit over rehearsals for the open air show (as well as all almost drowning together) but Meena honestly hadn't thought they were this close.

What was even more strange was Leslie was packing up her things like she was leaving! Her and Ash exchanged words that were easily overheard.

"You two sure you'll be okay here for the night?" Leslie asked.

"No worries, we'll keep an eye on her."

Meena stares bug-eyed at Ash. Why was her mother leaving? And why were these two staying with her? This was not normal! "Mom, you're leaving?" Meena didn't like how panicked she sounded.

"Yeah, I should really get back to your grandmother. I'll be back in time to check you out tomorrow." Leslie hummed nonchalantly.

Poor Meena's head was spinning. "W-what's wrong with grandma?"

"Nothing new, but I'm not sure dad can take care of her by himself." Leslie tucked her phone in her purse before looking up and seeing how distressed her daughter was. "You gonna be alright with me gone, babygirl?"

No! That's what Meena wanted to say. Why was her mother leaving her in a hospital? Why with her coworkers instead of her grandmother or grandfather? And what was going on with her grandmother? The elderly elephant was slow, but had always been able to take care of herself! Meena wanted to argue, make it clear how uncomfortable she was with being left with only her coworkers. But her mother looks so tired and worried. Meena felt selfish for wanting her to stay. Biting back her own discomfort, she forced a small smile and reassured her mother she'd be fine. With that, Leslie gave her a quick peck on the cheek and was out the door, leaving Meena to piece together everything that just happened.

"You sure you're alroight there, love?" Johnny asks next to her with his hand on her shoulder. Hearing this, Meena suddenly remember the other two's presence in the room. Both Ash and Johnny were giving her the same concerned look her mother had given her. She return it with a deer-in-the-headlights state.

"Yeah, uhhh… sorry. How long was I out?" Meena struggles to respond as her brain was still frazzled while trying to put everything together. She was also pretty sure she was blushing from the pet name, which only made her feel more fluster and awkward.

"I dunno, a couple of hours maybe? You were kinda conscious for most of the treatment, but you were pretty loopy." Ash explained as she climbed up to sit on the foot of the bed. "The nurse said you wouldn't remember much of it. You're probably fine now, but the hospital wants you to stay overnight for observation." The porcupine shot a reassuring smile at Meena and pulled out her phone.

Meena kind of just marveled at how comfortable Ash was curled up next to her feet. Johnny wasn't any less surprising as his hand was still on her shoulder and he was sitting on the edge of the bed next to her.

Meena felt like maybe she should feel weirded out by their behavior but wasn't. If anything, it was comforting having them both right there and being so comfortably affectionent.

She felt a yawn pull at her mouth and realized she had no idea what idea it was. There wasn't a window and Meena couldn't see a clock. "Where my phone? and time is it?"

Johnny gave her a sympathetic look and answered. "Yeah, ya kinda landed on it when ya fell. It shattered, but ya mum took it to see if it could be fixed." His hand was rubbing comforting circles in her back and kept his voice soft, keen to Meena's drowsiness. "It's getting late though. Bit past 10."

Ash found a remote and flipped through what was available on the hospital T.V. while Meena tried to fight the urge to sleep. The elephant felt obliged to stay up and at least try to be good company. The night carried on with nurses cycled into the room to check on her and answer her questions. But her fight to stay awake was a losing battle. The T.V. droned some movie she no interest in and Johnny's shoulder seemed comfier by the second. Meena's eye closed as the ache in her head was numbed by sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, here's chapter 2!**

 **—-**

Meena woke up to a silent hospital room, save for her coworkers' snores and the electronic beeping of one of the machines next to her. Ash had at some point acquired Johnny's jacket and was using it as a pillow where she was curled up on one of the hospital chairs. Johnny hadn't seemed to move at all, still right next to Meena with her struggled up to his shoulder and his cheek resting on the top of her head. Meena already felt her face heating up and didn't want to deal with being the first one awake, so she let herself stay in the foggy in-between of sleep and awake until she felt Johnny start to move. To two groggily separated, Johnny stretched, and Meena totally didn't notice the way his mussed up T-shirt got pulled up revealing some of his midriff. The morning felt hushed and lethargic… until they heard loud knocking on the door.

"Helloooo!" Eddie's voice came from the other side. "Is Meena in there?"

"Not so loud! What if this is the wrong room?" Mr. Moon's voice was more restrained but still distinctive to Meena's ears. Ash groaned and sat up, glaring at the door. Johnny chuckled and got up to answer it. The little hospital room was soon much less spacious as Meena saw her boss, Ms. Crawly, Eddie, and Rosita all crowded in. Meena felt horribly embarrassed for having only just woken up, but also touched that they had all come to check on her. She was practically bombarded with questions about her well beinhg from Mr. Moon, Eddie, and Ms. Crawly. She answered as best she could until Rosita shooed them to the side and lighten scolded them for crowding Meena. Things settled down a bit and each animal got a chance to speak with Meena, normally bequeathing her with some kind of get-well-soon card or gift. To Meena's utter surprise, even Mike showed up. She hadn't seen him since the open theater show! Yet, here he was, looking sheepish and holding a tiny bouquet of flowers for her. Meena tried to ask when he gotten back and what he was doing here, but he just gave her a weird look and didn't get a chance to explain anything before Gunter burst into the with a giant stuffed bear. Gunter quickly stole everyone's attention as he presented Meena with the giant get-well-soon stuffie, and Mike quietly ducked out.

Through all the chaos, Rosita explained that Mr. Moon had given them the choice to either work though the morning or pay her a quick visit first. Everyone had apparently jump at the chance to check up on her, including Mr. Moon himself. Meena was glowing from bashful glee, unbelievably flattered by the theater employees concern for her.

Later on when Leslie finally showed up, the mama elephant laughed at the number of animals crammed into her daughter's little hospital room. Everyone was sent back to work after a bit, save Johnny and Ash who were sent home, and Leslie check Meena out of the hospital. Meena was walking on clouds back to the car and drive home, her mood so brighten by her coworkers.

When they got back to the house, Leslie tried to convince Meena to rest more before heading off to work the lunch shift at her waitressing job. Meena tried to relax in her room but soon became restless. She booted up her laptop to check her assignment lists for her online classes, but for whatever reason she couldn't access her courses at all. She sent emails to her professors and the sites help desk before setting the laptop aside. It was Thursday, so Meena didn't have any on-campus classes for the rest of the week, as the only classes she was taking on campus were Mondays-Wednesdays. So with no homework or classes, and still no phone to entertain her, Meena got bored. So, she when to bake something.

Meena was pleased to find a whole tub of cream cheese she didn't remember them having, and decided on making cheese cake. The elephant happily hummed to herself as she got everything out and tidied up the kitchen enough to bake in it. Her process was interrupted by her grandfather's voice.

"Meena? That you, baby girl?"

"Yeah!"

"Aren't you should to be resting?"

"I'm fiiiine!"

"Well then be an angel and make your grandmother and I some tea?"

Meena smiles to herself and put on the kettle. She went back to humming as she heated tea water and she got out their old teapot. A minute later, she brought the pot and a couple of cups on a tray, out into the living room. That's where her smile faltered.

Her grandmother and grandfather were sat in front of the T.V. like normal, her grandfather with a newspaper and her grandmother happily watching soap operas. But there was a giant, heavy duty walker right next to her grandmother. Meena was sure she'd never seen it before. And when she gave them each a cup of tea, her grandfather smiled and thanked her, but her grandmother didn't speak. The old elephant's hands were shaking and her eyes seemed a bit glazed over and tired as she smile at Meena. The whole thing unnerved Meena and she quickly excused herself back to the kitchen.

What was that all about? Meena's first instinct was to call her mother and find out what on earth happened to her grandmother. But Leslie had already said nothing strange had happen. After standing in the kitchen for a few minutes silently panicking, Meena shook herself and tried to rationalize. Maybe the walker had been lent to them. Or maybe it had been one of the many items stuffed away in their over crowd garage they never bothered to clean out, and Meena never noticed it. Either way, it wasn't unreasonable for an elderly grandparent to try out a walker. And the old elephant's shaky hands could be explained away by her just not feeling well, which could have been why Leslie felt the need to return home the other night. As she continued baking, her mind supplied other reasons and explanations. After a little time, the baking was a welcome distraction from the uneasy feeling in her stomach.

One cheese cake and two batches of muffins later, Meena locked herself back up in her room to putter around on her laptop. By the time her mother came home, Meena had convinced herself she just imagined the far off look in her grandmother's eyes and the old elephant was just under the weather. Meena was able to put ordeal out of her mind for the night, so never ask her mother about it.

—-

 **(Don't worry, her grandma is alright)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! I have a good few more chapters ready to post if these do well. Sooo... have you figured out what's going on yet?**

—-

The next morning was a Friday and Meena was woken up by her mother. When Leslie asked if Meena felt up to working at the theater, the younger elephant scrambled out of bed to get dressed. She didn't remember being ask to work at the theater on Fridays, but Meena still jumped at the offer. She found her time at the theater fulfilling and exciting in many ways, and she also didn't feel like spending another full day in her house for some reason. So she jumped in the car carrying a container full of muffins for her coworkers and they drove off.

Her mother dropped her off at the theater with a quick "I love you!" and headed off to work. As soon as Meena entered the building, she was whisked away by Mr. Moon and followed him upstairs. Along the way, she got many inquiries about how she was feeling and reassurances from her boss the sandbag incident had been taken care of. Apparently, a rotted support beam had broke and that's what caused the sandbag to hit her. The beam had been replace and all the rest of the rigging was being checked.

Despite Meena's insistence that she was alright, Mr. Moon lead her up to Ms. Crawly's office and had her sit at the desk. He then delegated her the ohso exciting task of putting together program booklets for the next show. It was as easy as organizing a stack of papers and stapling them down the middle. Mr. Moon was clearly still concerned for Meena's condition and giving her the easiest job available, but she didn't really mind. It was actually kind of nice to have such a methodical task. Plus, how long could it possibly take to finish such a simple task?

Other employees would cycle through the office and greet her good morning. Meena found herself quite enjoying paper organizing while listening to Ms. Crawly and Johnny at the piano. But there was one detail that seemed off.

When Johnny had entered the small office, he greeted Ms. Crawly with a cheery "Good morning, Ms. Crawly!" before giving Meena a warm smile and a softer "Mornin' love!" Meena could only respond with a shy smile, ears pulling close to her face.

This shouldn't have thrown her off as much as it did. But had he really called her "love" again? He called Ms. Crawly by name. And as the day worn on and more theater employees entered and left the office, Meena witnesses him address pretty much everyone else by name. But when it came to her: "Can ya hand me that sheet music? Thanks, sweetheart." "Oi, love, come break for lunch!" "Wot cha workin' on, ducky?"

The last one kind of did it for Meena. Who the heck actually said "ducky?" Did he honestly not know here name? Thinking back, Meena couldn't recall a time Johnny has said her name.

It was closing in on the end of the day. Putting together the programs had taken much longer than she'd thought and Meena was all kinds of annoyed. It didn't help that she'd listened to Johnny called her every name in the book to avoid using her actual name. She was surprised how much it bugged her, but they had rebuilt the theater together and she was the sole member of the theater group whose name he hadn't bothered learning or remembering.

To add on to her annoyance, it had turned out to be a blisteringly hot day. It was almost October, so she had worn her typical hoodie and jeans ensemble. But she was forced to shed her hoodie by the time she arrived at the theater, leaving her sweating in baggy jeans and a white t-shirt with red sleeves.

Meena grumbled something about how the weather had no business being this hot in late September. She glanced over the last of the programs she'd finally finished, only to do a double take in horror. On the front of the programs was the name of the show (some orchestra event) and the date of the event: September 21st, 2018. Meena's hands covered her face and she groaned. The 21st already pasted she was sure, she had had something due then. And the was 2016. Meaning all those programs she'd put together have the wrong date on them! The wrong month and year unless this show was taking place two years in the future.

The only other member present during this realization was, of course, Johnny; who glanced up from the piano when Meena groaned. "Somethin' wrong, love?"

Meena snapped. Going rigid and with her face still in her hands, she growled. "It's. Meena."

It was too hushed for Johnny to hear, but he knew something was wrong. "Wot was that?"

Now Meena was looking - more like glaring - at him. "My name! It right on the assignment board in Moon's office with everyone else's, ya know! You could just checked!" She hissed through clenched teeth, trying to kept her voice from being too punishing. The heat was getting to her, making her temper worse. She was beyond frustrated and wasn't sure she was even making sense. But she was sweaty and uncomfortable and utterly done with Johnny's nicknaming nonsense!

Johnny was very confused at this point. He looked a little taken aback at how upset Meena was and not sure what to do. "... why would I checked? I know ya name-"

"Then how 'bout you use it!" Meena snipped as she scooped up the programs and stormed out of the office. She only made to the end of the hall before slowing. It was too hot to angry-walk, and she was already feeling guilty for her tone with Johnny. Honestly, she was more upset about the program dates than she was the nicknames. Letting out a dejected groan, she slumped against a wall.

"Meena?" Rosita had caught sight of the elephant and approached. "Is everything alright? Do you need to sit down?"

Meena's eyes flickered up from the floor to Rosita's sweetly concerned face. "Yeah, I'm fine." The elephant sighed in the heat. "I just realized the date on these programs was wrong."

Sadly, Meena's trunk handed one the programs to the curious mother pig. After studying it for a moment, Rosita's brow furrowed. "It seems right to me. Are you sure they're wrong?"

Meena just stared blankly at Rosita "But… but Mr. Moon said the show was few months from now."

"Yes, well, it's July now, so that means we have all of August and some of September." Rosita counted off on her hoove cheerily. She gave gave Meena a bright, reassuring smile that was meant with a blank look of disbelief.

A chilling thought dawned on Meena and she shakily asked. "Rosita… could I borrow your phone f-for a sec?"

Rosita looked a bit puzzled, but complied, logging in to her phone and handing it to Meena. The elephant immediately tapped on the calendar app and froze, all color draining from her face. Today's date read July 8th, 2018. Meena filled with dread and was only distanced award of Rosita asking if she was okay. Meena mumble that she was and that she just needed a bathroom. She automatically hand Rosita her phone back and wondered toward the employee restrooms.

Once locked in the single use restroom, Meena leaned against the door and let herself slide down to the floor. The realization hit her in waves. It was 2018. Summer of 2018. That's why it was so hot. That's why she couldn't access her online classes, as they'd finished semesters ago. That's why she was surprised by her grandmother's walker, she couldn't remember when it first arrived. That's why her coworkers were so familiar with her, they had nearly two years worth of memories that she didn't. Everything from the past two days fell into place, every clue she hadn't picked up on or ignored, every strange behavior, was explained by the fact that Meena was missing the past 22 months worth of history.

—

 **dun dun duh! It's an amnesia fic! It's cliche, but I'm having fun with it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, yeah, it's an amnesia fic. It's cliche, but I had fun with it! Thanks for reading up to this point! Now the fun really begins!**

—-

It felt like a bad dream. And although Meena knew she had lost her memory, it felt more like she had jumped forward in time and woken up in the future. Her first instinct, of course, was to call and tell her mother. But after her initial freak out, she talked herself down from that. She was in no immediate danger and there was no reason to drag her mother from work come get her. Leslie would probably insist on them going back to the hospital, so Meena figured she might as well tell her mother after work. Not wanting anyone to freak out or worry, Meena decided to just make it through the day and go home to tell her mother; and seeing as the day was nearly over, Meena only had to last about an hour without tipping anyone off that something was wrong.

Taking a few deep breaths, Meena gathered up the programs she had dropped and stood up right. She opened the door to head back to Ms. Crawley's office, only to walk three steps and get caught by Ash.

"There you are!" Ash exclaimed. "I was looking everywhere for you!"

"Uh, hey Ash. Everything okay?" Meena was already nervous. She mentally prepped herself 'Don't act surprised by anything she tells you! Just act like you know what's going on.'

Ash walked along side Meena back up to the now empty office. Once inside, Ash closed the door and spoke in a hushed voice. "So, did you and Johnny have a fight or something?"

Meena turned in surprise. Crap, she had forgotten about the ordeal with Johnny. The elephant tried to seem cool and collected as she leaned back against the desk. "W-w-why do you ask?" So much for cool and collected.

"Cause he's moping around like a kicked puppy." Ash stated frankly, hopping up on the piano bench and making herself comfortable. She fixed Meena with a president look. "So, why happen?"

Meena looked down guiltily. "I… I don't know. I guess I was just overheated and annoyed and, well, I kinda snapped at him." She answered honestly and looked helplessly at Ash. "I'm sorry. How upset is he?"

Ash studied her for a moment before giving a little smirk. "Eh, he'll be fine once he finds out you're not mad at him. I can see why ya lost your cool, though. What are you thinking, wearing jeans on a day like today?" She nodded to Meena's bulky jeans. It was then Meena's noticed how lightly Ash was dressed, wearing a skirt and tank top. Come to think of it, everyone had been coolly dress; another clue the elephant hadn't picked up on. Ash shook her head a little and continued "I'm just glad nothing serious happened. With how Johnny was whining, he was probably scared you were gonna dumped him or something."

"What!" Meena shot straight up. Had she heard correctly?

Ash chuckled at the outburst. "I know, right? He can be such a drama queen sometimes." The porcupine's phone lite up and she glanced at it. "I gotta get back to helping Eddie, but I'll send Johnny to you if I see him." And with that and a smile, Ash left

Meena stood froze at the desk. Had she interpreted that right? Was there any other way to interpret it? Johnny and her were… together? How? Why? Meena went to sit down at the desk and checked the clock. 40 more minutes until she could leave. She contemplated sneaking out early, but couldn't make up her mind before someone entered the office.

And who should walk in but the animal Meena wanted to speak with the least. Ash had held true to her word and sent Johnny back up to the office. All thoughts of staying cool and collected went right out the window as Meena stood suddenly (banging her knee in the process), apologizing profusely and blaming the heat for her mood. Just as Ash predicted, Johnny forgave her quickly, seeming more concerned for her than himself. After some reassurance that Meena wasn't angry with him and it was just the heat, she calmed down enough to sit back down. For what felt like the millionth time that day, Meena was asked if she was alright. She said yes and sat awkwardly.

She checked the clock again. 37 minutes left. Meena really didn't want to be left in a

room alone with him for long. She was scared she'd screw up and do something else to upset him or tip him off. He was already giving her a funny look from where he stood on the opposite side of the desk. Thankful, she was saved from more questions by Ms. Crawly waddling in and telling them Mr. Moon wanted to meet everyone downstairs.

The meeting consisted of a short overview of next week's plans and a thank-you for everyone's hard work. Mr. Moon wished them all a good weekend and dismissed them. Meena all but bolted from her chair to get her things and leave. She couldn't remember the last time she was so anxious to get home. She was traversing an unknown, future life that she was unequipped for. Home would be at least more familiar.

She started speed walking to the bus stop when she heard Ash call her. "Meena! Over here!" Meena turned and saw both Ash and Johnny waiting expectantly by Johnny's big black truck. Ash waved her over and Johnny hopped in to gun the trunk to life. Apparently, she was suppose to go with them.

They all cramped into the truck and took off. Ash was practically sat on Meena's lap the whole time, but the porcupine didn't seemed phased by this, so Meena forced herself to relax and try to go with the flow.

The drive was blissfully uneventful. They pulled up to what Meena assumed was Ash's apartment building and the porcupine hopped out, wishing them a good weekend. Meena waved goodbye and relaxed in her seat, finally starting to feel calmer about everything. At the first red light, however, she felt an arm snake around her shoulders and again had to will herself not to tense up.

"Alroight, what's goin' wit you?" Johnny voice was calm and knowing. "You've been actin' off all day."

Meena saw her opportunity and seized it. "What do you mean by off?" She asked innocently, extremely grateful for a chance to learn something about how she was suppose to be acting. "Aside from the whole nickname thing! That was just 'cause it was hot!" She added quickly.

"I was meaning to ask why you were dressed loike that." Johnny spared a quick look at Meena's hefty jeans and the sweatshirt tied around her waist. They were a stark contrast to the cotton shorts and band logo T-shirt he was wearing. 'He looks good.' Meena thought before forcefully shoving that thought out of her head.

"Uhhhh, r-right! Well… I was cold when I woke up and … thought I'd be cold later on ….and was wrong…" Meena stumbled over her excuse, almost impressed at how bad she was at lying. "Anyway, you never answered my question! How have I been acting weird?" She continued quickly before Johnny could shoot her anymore questioning looks.

Johnny looked forward thoughtfully, eyes on the road and forehead creased. "Well, you were pretty quiet all day." That just confused Meena. Wasn't she always quiet? How much could she have changed in the past two years?

As if hearing her thoughts, he continued. "I mean, I guess you're normally pretty quiet, but ya usually talk more wit us. Ya seem more closed off is all. More… distance." Johnny looked like he was struggling to explain. "Loike, this is the longest conversation we've 'ad all day! You sure there's nothing else you're mad at me for?" His voice was uncertain as he asked. Meena mused that he looking as nervous as she felt. He seemed so… vulnerable. Meena immediately felt the urge to say whatever it took to reassure him, wanting to remove the uncertainty from his face.

"I'm sure! I promise, I'm not mad!" Meena chirped, even leaning into him a bit to prove it. That seemed to help. His hold on her tightened and he relaxed a bit.

They were pulling up to Meena's house anyway.

"So, what is going then?" Johnny parked the truck but wasn't done with the conversation yet. He turned his head to face her and she realized just how close he was. "And don't say it's nuffin'." He added softly.

Meena thought, maybe she should just tell him. She was out matched, him knowing almost two years worth of information about her and her barely knowing him. After all he was her "boyfriend", apparently. But she had no idea how close they actually were. She didn't know anything about their relationship other than it existed and Ash knew about it. Did anyone else know? Was her family aware of her relationship?

Meena mentality wrestled with herself for a bit. But Johnny's big, brown, solicitous eyes were fixed on her and she could feel herself caving.

She straighten up and sighed heavily. "Alright, ummm, here the thin-"

Bam!

The front door to her house swung open and her grandfather shouted from the porch. "Meena? You out there?" Meena felt Johnny retracted his arm quicker than lighting. Well, that answered the question of whether or not her family knew. "Whatchu doing sitting out in a car for? It's hot!" Her grandfather continued to shout unnecessarily. Meen figures it'd be best to just go in so he'd shut up.

She hurried to open the car door. "I'll see ya around." She smiled at Johnny before turning to hop out of the truck.

"Kay, love ya."

"You too." Meena mumbled back automatically. She didn't fully register the exchange until she was at her door and Johnny's trunk was driving away. He had said "love you." "Love you." And she'd only responded with "you too." Meena stood bug-eyed in the doorway processing. How many bombshells were going to hit her today?!

"You alright, baby girl?" Her grandfather asked when he saw she frozen.

"Yeah." She responded robotically. "I'm just gonna go to my room and scream in a pillow."

She did just that. After some screaming, she let herself just lie facedown on her bed and wallow. Her mind torturing her as it played the exchange in her head over and over again.

Eventually her mother came home and Meena when out to meet with her. Her mother was tired from work but otherwise in high spirits. Meena practically dragged her mother away from her grandparents and spilled everything in a jumbled mess of words. To her mother's credit, she didn't freak out. Maybe it was because she was still tired from work but Leslie kept a cool head and they planned to back to the emergency room tomorrow. Meena felt a huge weight lift off her chest from finally being able to tell someone. Relieved, she drifted back to her room and slept like a rock.


	5. Chapter 5

Meena woke up the next morning and got ready to spend the day in the emergency room. She had suggested just making another appointment to see her doctor, but her mother deemed memory loss as too important to wait. On the drive over Meena finally got to ask so many of the questions that had been bothering. She learned her grandmother had had a stroke about a year ago and had mostly recovered, but she had a little trouble getting around and the walker helped. The old elephant also had a little more trouble speaking now. This all troubled Meena disputes her mother's reassurances that her grandmother was recovering nicely. Leslie also went on to tell Meena all about how Mike had returned to the theater soon after it reopened, all the shows and singing performances Meena had partaken in, and all the college classes Meena had completed. Leslie also reassured her daughter that most of the courses were intro and everyone forgets everything from those classes as soon as they finish the final.

The day consisted of a hospital visit, some testing, and the doctor confirming Meena indeed had amnesia. The doctor, an old tortoise, said there wasn't any other major health concerns and that there was a good chance it was temporary.

After collecting other medical information from the doctor, Leslie had an idea and dragged her daughter back to the car to shuttle her to her campus. They walked around for a bit, but nothing really helped. That is until they found an unlocked building. It took all of four step in before Meena recognized it. It was the rec building. She had taken a required fitness class and hated it!

Meena lite up as more class related memories came to her. She started babbling to her mother and trying to get into other buildings to see more. They spend a couple of hours wandering around before headed back, both in high spirits. Meena was overjoyed to remember bits of her life her thought she'd lost, and to know that her memory could be jogged. There was hope to getting all of it back.

A thought suddenly hit Meena and she glanced at her mother merrily humming next to her. "Hey mom? Has anything else… major... changed?" Meena asked cautiously. That fact the her and Johnny were evidently together was shocking for a list of reasons, but one that stood out to her was that he wasn't an elephant. Meena wasn't opposed to dating other species at all, but her family was a bit on the old fashioned side. They were the kind of family who went to church every Sunday and although her mother would say 'live and let live' when it came to these sorts of matters, it would be different if it were her own daughter. Meena had had feelings for animals of different species before, but they never went anywhere. She hadn't worried too much because she knew her family would never disown her or anything extreme, there would just be eye rolls and nosy questions (especially from her grandfather) if they had found out about her former crushes. Interspecies relationship hadn't been something they'd really talked about before.

So Meena decided to try to find out what her mother knew about Johnny and that whole ordeal. Her mother thought for a moment. "Hrm. Well you declare your major." She beamed proudly.

"No, I meant stuff… not relating to school. Or work. Personal stuff…" Meena mumbled, starting feel nervous.

Again, her mother hummed to herself. "Hmm. Ya mean your friends?" Leslie shot her daughter a smile. "Yeah, you've gotten real close with the kids from the theater! Remember them? They're names are Johnny and Ash. Sweet kids!" Leslie focus was on the road, but she barked a laugh when she realized something. "Ha! Oh! Oh no wonder you were so freaked out when I left them with you at the hospital! You probably didn't remember much about them! I'm sorry baby."

"It's fine mom." Meena hoped she didn't sound disappointed. "How, um, how close are we?" The younger elephant's heart was starting to pound. She wondered if she was on thin ice, at risk of spilling a colossal secret she only knew parts of.

"Oh real close!" Leslie chirped. "Ash gets lonesome living on her own, so you've spend a lot of nights over at her place. If you're not home, at school, or at the theater, you're probably with them." The mother elephant looked so pleased reporting all this, showering Meena's friends with praise. The conversation shifted to Leslie retelling stories that Meena had at some point told her about her friends and the theater in general. Meena listened halfheartedly, hoping she didn't look as disappointed as she felt.

Later on, after the conversation had drifted far away from Meena's friends and to Leslie recounting some funny event at work, Meena tried a different approach. "Am I dating anyone?"

Leslie looked shocked by that question. "Huh?!"

Meena immediately regretted asking. She quickly added. "W-well, you know, a lot can change in two years and, um, I-I figured if I were I should know!"

Meena was grateful her mother had to focus on the road and couldn't look at her. The younger elephant had no poker face when it came to lying. Her mother seemed to buy her reasoning and relaxed. "Heh, nope. Not as far as I know. Unless you're hiding somebody." Leslie gave her daughter a joking side eye. Meena laughed it off nervously and the topic was dropped.

—

 **More chapters up soon, thanks for reading so far! Any feedback is always appreciate!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6! Meena finally is able to tell her coworkers what's going on and her and Johnny have little heart to heart chat.**

 **this chapter is long, sorry!**

—-

Meena's grandparents were updated once Leslie and Meena got home. The rest of the weekend was spent trying to revive Meena memories through taking her to different place and showing her things from her recent past. Some attempt were successful, but most were not. None of them lose hope though, and honestly, Meena was kind of having fun playing with familiarity and seeing what memories would come back. But her and her family quickly realized how much of Meena's life was separate from the rest of the family now. She wasn't a kid, or even a teen, anymore. Meena was 20, and so much of her time had been spend at the theater or with her friends.

She had dug through her room and found most of her old college notebooks, then proceeded to stay up all Saturday night reading them. They were surprisingly helpful and Meena would remember what she had been thinking about while writing some of the notes.

Another informative item was her new phone. The old had been crushed, but the SIM card had survived and was place in a new phone. So, after Meena had finish her notebook, she promptly decide to go on her phone rather than get go to sleep like she'd told herself she do.

The truth was she wanted answers more than sleep. She found tons of photos she didn't remember taking and, true to her mother's word, there was a lot of evidence showing how much time she now spent with Johnny and Ash. They almost looked odd. Meena's first impression of the other two young performers was that they were cool and confident, surely neither would have a problem being popular. And then there was Meena, right next to them in most of the pictures, sporting her normal hoodie and baggy clothes, and looking like a dork. Meena couldn't help but wonder why the other two were her friends. Surely they had other (arguably better) options.

They weren't like the kind of kids Meena was used to hanging out with. She was used to shy, nerdy kids like herself. Johnny seemed like one of the popular kids in school who every girl swooned over. Ash seemed like a confident punk who was not to be messed with. How had they all gotten so close? How had she ended up dating one of them?!

Meena scoured their text conversations next. She found that her and Ash's conversations ranged from plan arrangements to conspiracy theories sent in early am's. Much of the latter conversations were Meena telling Ash to go to sleep. She next tried to scroll through her conversations with Johnny far back enough to find out when they got together and for how long, but eventually gave up. Her eyes were starting to ache. What she did manage to learn was that Johnny used an excess number of pet names in text aswell and visited the prison on occasion to see his father. She felt a pang of sympathy upon learning about his father.

Too tired to read and somehow too tired to sleep, Meena cast her phone to the side and lay awake with her thoughts. Her grades, family life, and time at the theater was all fine and believable; pretty close to what her 18-year-old self would have expected. But Johnny, being his girlfriend (that label still didn't feel right to Meena), that came right out of left field for her and had a lot of baggage with it. For starters, how and why had they even started dating? Surely Johnny had many options, so what had drawn him to her. Meena didn't mind how she looked but she knew she wasn't terribly conversational attractive. One didn't really see many elephant supermodels. Meena was kind of amazed her own anxiety had allowed herself to be with him in the first place.

Next, there was of course the fact they were completely different species. Something her family would definitely have something say about, along with the rest of the world. Meena wondered who else knew aside from Ash. Thinking back now, Johnny's pet names for her had probably been flirting, which he had had no problem doing in front of anyone at the theater. What about his family? Did his imprisoned father know anything about her?

Then there was the fact that Meena had kept this a secret from her family! She'd never really kept anything from her mother, especially nothing as important as this. Were they just waiting for the right moment. Maybe it hadn't come up yet because they were a new couple. Meena groaned and remembered Johnny's parting words with her; they couldn't be that new if he was casually throwing out 'I love you's. She cringed at the memory of that exchange.

Sometime around 2am, Meena finally fell asleep. The weekend carried on and Meena resolved to tell everyone at the theater about her amnesia first thing Monday morning. There was really no reason to be keeping it a secret anymore. She had gone back to the doctor and was otherwise fine, so they wouldn't have to worry about that. Still, she found herself nervous about how everyone would react.

Monday morning rolled around and Meena anxiously bounced her leg the whole bus ride over. She had texted Johnny to tell him she had a functioning phone again and ask him when he'd be at the theater. Meena decided she ought to tell her "boyfriend" about her memory lost first. He answered about 20 minutes later, right after Meena had gotten off at her bus stop, that he had just woken up and would be there in half an hour.

Meena was anxious to tell everyone and get this weird weight off her chest, but still thought it was best to tell Johnny first. She practically grabbed him and dragged him out to side as soon as he walked in the door 26 minutes later. (Not that Meena had meant to keep such a close count of the time.) Leading them to the secluded underbelly of the theater amongst old props and sets, Meena finally slowed and turn to address Johnny. To her surprise, he looked kind of a nervous wreck. Ash's words from before echoed in Meena's ears: 'he was probably scared you were gonna dumped him or something.' Of course, telling him they needed to talk and dragging him away to a private location probably didn't help if that's what he was worried about.

"So, does this have anything to do with whateve' you were gonna tell me Friday?" Johnny asked as his eye shifted off to the side anxiously. It only then dawned on Meena that she had also left him hanging all weekend with no contact on what was going on or if he should worry. She wanted to kick herself for being so careless.

Guilt mounting up in her stomach, she resolved to try to keep Johnny from freaking out over the actual news. Wringing her shirt hem with her hands, Meena hurriedly began. "Yes, it does. Listen, something kinda happened and we ended up going back to the hospital." As soon as the word 'hospital' left her mouth, she got to watch Johnny's expression morph into a whole new type of dread. Man, she sucked at this. "But I'm fine! There's nothing physically wrong or anything!" Meena added quickly with her hands out. This was not going well, and Meena couldn't think of how to make it better, so she just blurted out what she wanted to say. "I just… I have amnesia."

Johnny didn't looked panicked anymore, he just look perplexed. He cocked his head to the side. "Soooo…. you forgot some stuff?"

"Yes!" Meena smiled, relieved to have finally said it. "That's why I was acting so weird. I had no what was going on! Ever since I woke up at that hospital, I've had no clue why everything seemed a so… strange. Last I remembered it was September of two years ago!"

Johnny studied her with a face like he couldn't decide how bad this news should be to him. "Ya mean ya don't remember anything since then? Us? The theater shows? ... Anything?" Meena's heart sunk as he asked.

"I'm sorry, but… not really, no. I woke up in a hospital and couldn't understand why you and Ash were being so, uh… cuddly with me. Or why everyone was so acting so close to me. Or why it was so hot." Meena found herself pacing side to side a bit like she was talking to herself, and not quite able to meet Johnny's eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I honestly couldn't figure out what was going on! It's why I thought you guys were being weirdly friendly and why I thought you didn't know my name and-"

"You thought I didn't know ya name?" Johnny sounded baffled as he was trying to keep up with everything she was saying.

"Well, I didn't know why else you'd keep calling me weird nicknames! I thought you didn't know my real one or were teasing me or something!"

Johnny gave out a humorless laugh and let his face fall into his hand. "So that's why you were so mad. I'll be honest, I was tryin' to egg ya on a bit, but I wasn't expecting ya to get so pissed." He leaned back against one of the sets, looking drained.

This time it was Meena's turn to be confused. "So you were teasing me?" Her head tilted as she spoke.

"A little bit. You were barely talking to me, so I was tryin' get ya to laugh, or even react, with the cheesier pet names." Johnny confessed with a little shrug. "I mean, who actually uses 'ducky?'"

Meena felt a smile tug a at her lips. Her gaze shifted down as she spoke. "Well.. the doctor said there's a good chance it's temporary. So with any luck, this won't last-"

"Hello!? Anyone down here!" Gunter's voice rang out. Both Meena and Johnny jumped back a little. 'No, not yet!' Meena thought to herself. She still had so many unanswered questions. Questions it seemed her family couldn't answer for her, but maybe Johnny could. But Gunter still came bounding in to tell them everyone was meeting on stage for assignments. Figures that as soon as Meena wants to be left alone with Johnny, they're both needed.

During the meetings, Meena's leg was bouncing again with anxiety. Her doctor's note sat heavy in her pocket. She wondered if there was any kind of protocol for this sort of thing. Was she just supposed to tell Mr. Moon and give him the note privately? Tell everyone individually? Annonce it to everyone during the meeting? She hated public speaking, even if it was just in front of her coworkers/friends. Still, she knew she'd feel better once it was out in the open and there wasn't any confusion anymore.

As the meeting was drawing to a close, Mr. Moon asked if there was anything else and Meena stood. All eyes were on her and she immediately wanted to sit back down, but she forced herself to clean her throat and speak. "S-so, um…. I, uh, I found something out recently. And, uh, I'm cleared to work and everything. The doctor said it's probably good for me to go back to work and stuff. But, just so everyone knows…" Meena fumbled a bit pulling the doctor's note out of her pocket to read it. "I have, uh, r-retrograde amnesia."

It became unnervingly silent. Meena swore she could hear her own heart pounding as everyone stared at her wide eyed. "Amnesia? Like, memory loss?" Eddie echoed.

"Yeah, I didn't realize it at first. But the doctor said it could be temporary and I've even gotten a few memories back."

Meena shrugged with a nervous smile.

"Is that why you were upset over the program dates?" Rosita's eyes went ever wider with realization.

"Uh-huh. I thought it was September of 2016." Meena explained as mummers sounded all around her. Everyone looked to be coming around to the full realization of this. Everyone expect Johnny, who just looked gloomy at the moment.

"Well, …. uh, that's quite the announcement." Mr. Moon looked a bit unnerved as he spoke up, getting everyone's attention again. "We'll do everything we can to help keep you informed as to what all has changed. In the meantime, please let me know if you need more time off." Mr. Moon looked as though he was trying to stay calm while internally freaking out.

Ms. Crawly hobbled over to Meena next as the others started to get up to leave. "Oh, don't you worry, dearie!" The old lizard chirped cheerily, "Perfect memory isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've managed just fine without it!" Ms. Crawly winked at Meena and the elephant smile gratefully.

Meena ended up following Ms. Crawly around for most of the morning. It felt reassuring to be with someone who had memory problems and still got on as well as she did. During the morning, every member of the theater work force approached her at least once with questions about her condition. With a great deal of patience, she explained all she knew again and again. She didn't remember most of the past two year, the only memories she's recovered so far were related to school, it could possibly be temporary, she wasn't on any treatments or medications for it.

After doing all the tasks that involved helping the elderly lizard, Meena was lead to a practice room to do warm ups and voice exercises to keep her singing voice in shape. Her mind kept going back to the short cut conversation with Johnny and how much more she wanted to ask him. But, she couldn't work up the nerve to go find him again as he was probably busy and she didn't want to be a pest.

At some point during practice, Meena decided to take the trash in her rehearsal room out. She tied off the bag and headed to the back exit of the theater that lead to an alleyway where the dumpers were. At the time, any sound she made was more or less covered by Ash playing through one of her new songs. The theater walls were almost shaking from the volume Ash played at. So no one heard Meena leave and the singer already in the alleyway didn't heard her approach.

Meena was deep in thought and not paying much mind to the world around her. She chucked the trash bag into the dumper and let the lid fall with a heavy thounk.

"Ah!"

Johnny, who had been quietly smoking off to the side, jumped up in shock from the sound. He locked eyes with Meena's and he quickly flicked the cigarette behind him, looking sheepish.

"You smoke?" Meena heard herself ask without thinking.

"No!" Johnny looked like he'd been caught doing something wrongs "I mean, I'm quitting. A-and I've been doing good with it! I just- today was pretty stressful is all…"

Meena immediately felt guilty at that, feeling that she the cause of his stress. For the first time, she really thought about how this all was from his point of view. To Johnny, he had just loss his girlfriend. Even if the amnesia was temporary; right now, his Meena was gone, replaced with a much more reclusive version who hardly knew him, let alone loved him.

Guilty building up, Meena sighed. "I'm sorry about all this."

"It's not your fault." Johnny tried to comfort her, to little avail.

"Yeah, well…. it still sucks!" Meena grumbled pathetically at no one in particular. She took a deep breath, trying to built up enough courage to ask for help from the boy who was, evidently, pretty broken up over her. "Listen, I'm really sorry, but can I ask you some stuff?" Instinctively, her hands starting clutching the hem of her shirt from uneasiness. "I… I have a lot of questions that my family couldn't answer and I think… maybe you're who I should be asking." Her voice was a whisper by the time she finished.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Johnny sat back down on an old crate he'd been using and motioned her over. Meena examined the crate and deemed it sturdier enough looking before sitting next to him.

She spared him a quick look before staring down at her feet. How was she supposed to start this? Where did she even begin? She suddenly really wished she'd written all her questions down or something. Before she could speak, however, Johnny beat her to it. "So… Wot do you remembe' about me?"

Meena looked up to him . "Oh, well, your name's Johnny, you were of the one of the winning auditions, you can play the piano and can skateboard, and you helped to rebuild the theater." She listed off factually before adding shyly. "Also you saved my life when the first theater came down."

Johnny looked a bit bashful at that. He scratched the back of his neck as he spoke. "Heh, um so, wot did you want t' ask about?"

'Is he blushing? Oh my gosh, he's blushing!' Meena was honestly amazed she could get someone like Johnny to blush without trying. But she quickly snapped out of it and forced herself to focus on the task at hand. "When I pulled you aside today, that was because I thought I should tell you what happened before telling everyone else. And I thought I should've done that 'cuase, w-well… Ash kinda made it sound like… um.." Meena was horrified as she heard herself becoming a flustered mess. But she couldn't help it. Her brain was suddenly supplying all kinds of hypotheticals for her misunderstanding everything. Maybe she had just misinterpreted Ash! Maybe Johnny's parting 'love you' had been a slip or the tongue or something! Maybe he was just a flirty guy with no weight behind his words and she'd read too deeply into everything!

"We're togethe'" Johnny answered Meena's unfinished question, saving her from her own fumbling.

"Right! That!" Meena stated, relieved she hadn't misinterpreted. "I-I wanted to know for how long."

Johnny leaned back of his hands and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Eh, about seven months, I think." Seven month?! Over half of a year! And she kept this a secret from her family that whole time! Another unsettling thought dawned on Meena: did Johnny know he was being kept a secret from her family? Surely, she wouldn't hide someone who didn't want that, right?

Still, she proceeded with caution and kept her next question vague. "H-have you met my family?"

"Yeah, ya' mum and grandparents are at most shows. They know me, but they don't know we're datin'. Sorry 'bout that."

Meena once again felt a rush of relief and as she leaned back in her seat. She felt a million times more comfortable knowing she was with someone who it didn't seem she had any secrets to keep. "What on earth are you apologizing for? I'm the one who hasn't owned up and told them yet." She asked, much calmer now.

"It's not that simple." Johnny explained. "Interspecie relationship aren't exactly seen a normal yet as it is. And between some of ya family's beliefs and the whole incident with Ash, we kept putting off when we were gonna start tellin' everyone." Johnny sincerely looked like he was as much apart of this decision to stay secret as Meena was.

But this left her with even more questions. "What was the incident with Ash?"

"Don't remembe' that?" Johnny got comfortable and went into the whole story. As it turns out, some gossipy outlet had gotten a picture of Ash and Johnny sitting close to each other and spun some story of their "secret relationship." It ended up getting a surprising amount of attention (both positive and negative) and both singers got letters about the whole ordeal despite the fact it wasn't at all true. However, Ash ended up getting far more letters and online feedback. Apparently, a large number of unsavory fangirls sent nasty things to Ash in blind jealous rage. Ash had been annoyed, but didn't let any of their crap get to her. Johnny of course felt awful about the whole thing, luckily Ash didn't blame him for any of it and she refuse to let some whiny groupies screw with their friendship. Still, Johnny had become pretty self aware of how his interactions at shows and public venues could be interrupted. The whole thing had been a nightmare and he said he didn't want anyone else going through that unless it couldn't be help.

This all made sense to Meena. Why bother going through that mess before knowing if you were going to be long term or not. (Did seven months qualify as long term? Didn't seem long enough to Meena.) As soon as the story was done, Meena had more questions. Completely disregarding her voice practice, she asked. "Okay, so if the public and my family don't know yet, who does? Is it just Ash?"

"Naw, pretty much everyone here knows. We decided if anyone at work asked we'd just tell them the truth." Johnny shrugged and waved towards the theater. With a smirk he added. "Course, as soon as Gunter found out, he group texted everyone else." This earned him an amused chuckle from Meena.

Meena was really smiling now. It felt nice to just talk about this. No more worrying about saying the wrong thing or slipping up. She felt like she could ask anything. "And I'm guessing your family doesn't know either, right?" She verified.

Johnny barked out a laugh. "My dad knew I liked you before I did!" He looked at her with a bashful smile. "Apparently I talked 'bout you a lot." Meena's face went warm and she had to look away, but she was still smiling. "He knows about us and he loikes ya. He thinks you're way outta of my league."

"How?" Meena asked bluntly without thinking. To be fair, she could even begin to wrap her head around that logic. He was definitely more popular and more conventionally attractive. Most would probably think he was the one who was out of her league, including Meena herself.

Johnny laughed her reaction off and shrugged. "Ya smart, really talented, and ya come from a good stable family. I donno if ya remember this, but my family's kinda…" He trailed off, looking a bit wary.

"I know you're dad's in prison." Meena said gently. "I mean, I don't remember that. But I went through a bunch of our text messages and found out. A-and I not judging or anything! Stuff happens!" Meena fidgeted in her spot a little trying to find the right words. "Look, as weird as this is for me, I'm guessing it's worse for you. I don't know what you're thinking, but if it were me, I'd be worried if someone close to me forgot about me and have to relearn all the not-so-great parts of myself again. But… I really don't want you to worry." The elephant looked down a little nervously, hoping she was making sense. "I'm not going to let myself be scared away."

She considered saying something else but didn't get the chance before she felt Johnny suddenly hug her. Arms wrapped around her tight and she could feel his smile pressed against her shoulder. 'Well, I must be doing something right!' She thought to herself, leaning into the hug. She would have hugged back if her arms weren't clamped down at her sides by the surprising strong gorilla.

After a bit, they pulled away and the summer heat bullied them back inside. But they were still close, Meena shyly asking questions and Johnny providing answers and stories.

Meena felt tons better. And Johnny looked much happier now compared to how miserable he looked when she had found him in the alley. Still, despite feeling like she had no secretes to keep from him, there were still questions burning in her head that she just couldn't bring herself to ask. Questions like: How serious were they? (Meena couldn't remember ever being in a relationship before and had no idea what was standard at seven months.) Who had asked who out? (Meena had a feeling it wasn't her.) He had said 'love you,' had he meant it? Had she ever said it to him?

And the biggest question that would not leave her alone; why her? What in earth had drawn him to her out of his many options? She also wondered what had drawn her to him, but didn't know if Johnny could answer that for her.

Still, Meena wasn't ready to ask any of those. So she stuck with basic questions about the theater and their friendship with Ash. With their relationship, the most she managed to ask was where their first date was. Johnny smirk and joked that that depended on what counted as their first date, before launching into another story. Now disregarding his responsibilities, he lingered around her rehearsal room and retold his first attempt at asking her out. As it happened, when Johnny had first asked her to the movies, she had casually responded "Sounds fun! Have you checked with Ash yet?" Johnny had forgot to mention the 'date' aspect. Getting cold feet, Johnny muttered something about asking Ash later, then proceeded to text the porcupine asking her to pretend to be busy. Meena kept a hand over her mouth and tried not to laugh too much as Johnny described their not-quite-a-date in detail. 'Oh thank god! He's almost as awkward me!' She thought to herself as he rather theatrically told his tale. She was starting to see why she fell for him. Was he always this good at getting her to laugh?

Eventually, Mr. Moon saw Johnny and good humoredly told him to "stop flirting and get back to work!" This caused both him and Meena to blush. They exchanged embarrassed goodbyes and Johnny ducked out off her room, leaving her alone with the new floaty feeling in her chest.


	7. Chapter 7

I've had this stinking chapter done for a month and never got around to editting it! sorry

 **but this is definetly my favor so chapter of this so far! sorry for the wait**

—

After Johnny, the next most affected individual from her memory loss was definitely Ash. During a few minutes Meena took to move some of Ash's sound equipment, the porcupine hardly said anything and would steal studious looks at Meena. Finally, as Meena was finishing up, Ash asked. "So are you scared of me again?"

"Huh?" Meena looked down where Ash was sat on the floor with her guitar.

"You once told me you use to find me scary. Like, that's why we weren't friends right away. Am I scary to you again." Ash looked up at Meena with deep, blue eyes.

Meena glanced off to the side. "I don't think 'scary' is the right word." She began with a mumble. It's true that Meena was surprised by their friendship, as Ash seemed tough, sharp-witted, and easily annoyed. The porcupine has reminded Meena of a few less-than-pleasant kids she gone to school with, so the elephant initially kept her distance. But she had still tried to make small talk. She had wished Ash good luck before watching the rocker cry on stage while attempting to sing "Call Me Maybe." In hindsight, that's probably where Meena stopped being so intimidated by Ash. "...it's weird knowing you've know me for two years and I've only known you for a few months. But you're not scary! I guess… I guess I'm just surprised we're friends is all." Meena gave Ash what she hoped was a comforting smile.

"Good surprised or disappointed surprised?" Ash cocked an eyebrow at Meena as she spoke.

"Good surprised! Of course good surprised! Who wouldn't be happy to find they're your friend?!" Meena's reply was immediate and surprisingly defensive of Ash.

Said porcupine beamed at at this. "Good." She started climbing up some of the speaker equipment. Once more level with Meena, she said. "Cause honestly, I was kinda worried I'd scared you off seeing as you didn't really remember much about us." She waved vaguely to the theater in general. "You free after work?"

"Uh, I think so?" Meena's answer was unsure. If she had made plans it's not like she'd remember them.

"Cool, we're playing video games at my place." Ash said as she hopped off the speakers and walked off. "Tell Johnny when ya see him."

It hadn't been a question. Ash had declared it, so it was happening. Meena got the feeling the porcupine was the leader of their little friend group. After getting the 'Okay' to go from her mother, Meena went on with her tasks.

A few hours later, Meena found herself once again stuffed in Johnny's truck as they drove to Ash's apartment. It start off much more awkwardly this time, however, as everyone was trying to have normal conversation without bringing up the elephant in the room. Or in this case, the elephant in the truck. Talking about your day at work became a lot less interesting when one of your party had amnesia.

Ash was squished in between the larger two this time, trying her best to give Meena some level on personal space rather than just sitting on her lap like last time. Everything about the ride was less comfortable and Meena felt like her was somehow at fault for it. Luckily for her, Ash got fed up with it and chucked all subtly out the window. "So what is the last thing you can remember?" Ash asked unprompted.

Both surprised and relieved by her blunt question, Meena immediately tried to track down her most recent memory before waking up at the hospital. "Umm, I remember the theater reopening. We were all out infront for a picture."

After a moment of silence from Meena as she tried to remember more, Ash asked. "What about the after party?"

"After party?" Meena have her a look.

"Yeah, Moon threw a big party after the reopening. There was dancing, Nana Noodleman gave a speech, Eddie ate a bunch of cheese samplers and was sick all over place." Ash listed off details to a blank-faced Meena.

"He got most of it in the trash." Johnny added with a shrug.

Despite the elephant's best efforts, she couldn't remember the party. Eventually, Ash dug her phone out. "Here, I think I've still got pictures from it."

Meena focused on the little screen. Ash swiped through a picture of Gunter striking a pose on the dance floor, a selfie Ash took in front of a giant chocolate fountain, and a picture of newly decorated interior of the theater lobby.

A switch flipped when Meena saw the last photo. She remembered those decorations. She suddenly remembered being at that party and being too shy to talk to anyone and having stayed plastered to her mother's side. She had ended up at a table with her mother, grandmother, Nana Noodleman herself, and Ms. Crawly. A whole flashback came back in her mind as she remembered watching Ms. Crawly and Johnny slowing dancing on the dance floor. Being the gentleman he was, Johnny helped Ms. Crawly over the table when she got tired. Ms. Crawly thanked him and promptly shooed him away to "go and find some young thing to dance with." Johnny allowed himself to be shooed away just as he spotted Meena at the table too. Seeing as she was the first "young thing" nearby, he immediately turned and asked if she'd like to dance. Meena, of course, shook her head nervously as she practically hide behind her mother, much to the amusement of the other ladies. Johnny pouted dramatically at her rejection, before sending her a smile and going on his way. Meena's mother teased her a bit about and Nana Noodleman muttered something about youth being wasted on the young. It was all so clear in her memory now, she was amazed she'd every forgot it.

"Meena? Earth to Meena? You good?" Ash waved a paw in front if Meena's face when the elephant had gone so quiet.

Blinking suddenly, Meena looked over to see the other two sporting concerned looks.

"Uh, sorry. But I do remember this! Or, at least, now I remember this!" Meena smiled as Ash swiped to the next picture. It was another one Meena had no memory of, despite being in it. The picture looked haphazardly taken and showed Ash, Meena, and Eddie with what looked like fair games in the background. Ash was excitedly holding a blow up guitar, Meena was hiding her face behind her ears while holding a broken mallet, and Eddie looked to be consoling her. "What's that from?" Meena asked.

Ash looked at it and beamed. "Oh yeeeeeah, that fair! I forgot I had that picture." Ash went into a tale of when a street fair had been set up on the same street as the theater. She had jokingly said she wanted one of the inflatable guitars hanging from a carnival games. It's was a high striker where one hits the target with a mallet to hit the bell. Gunter had immediately promised to win her one and attempted 5 times to do so before dragging Johnny over to the game instead. Johnny did much better but not well enough to win Ash's prize and gave up after a few tries. Of course, as soon as Ash spotted Meena walking their way, she pulled Meena over to the game. A mallet was pushed into the elephant's hands and she was nudged at the game. In one tried, Meena not only hit the top bell, but broke the cheaply made mallet as well, sending the top half flying into a dunk tank. The stunned game operator relinquished the inflatable to Ash and went on break.

Meena's brain tries so hard to picture these events in her mind when it all suddenly snapped back in a rush. One moment she can't remember it at all, the next Meena remembers exactly how embarrassed she had been about breaking the game mallet in front of everyone. Pretty much everyone from the theater had gone to the fair right after work (it was pretty hard to avoid) and had be cheering her, Johnny, and Gunter on. She remembered hiding behind her ears in guilt as Eddie had to reassure her the game operator wasn't mad and was more impressed than anything else. She even remembered Ash's little victory cry when she received her infallible guitar and demanding Johnny get a picture of them with her phone.

"Ya makin' that face again. You alroight?" Johnny asked as Meena was spacing out again. But she flashed a big smile and he knew right away. "You remembered again?"

"Wait, is this helping?" Ash ask hopefully. Meena nodded and Ash spend the rest of the car ride find pictures of memories on her phone and telling Meena all about them. Johnny added comments in here and there, but it Ash did most of the talking. This continued as they arrived and went into Ash's apartment, Ash storytelling the whole way and Meena hooked on every word.

On the drive over alone, Meena had recovered memories of a few shows that they took part in, a concert Ash had taken the other two to, and an ice skating event the whole theater gang had gone to that ended with Gunter laid out on the ice in a Christmas speedo and Santa hat. The apartment itself also served as a window into what Meena's life had contained. It smelled faintly of coffee and scented candles which brought back memories of hangouts and nights spent making fun of movies with Ash.

Honestly, Meena was starting to hope this would be the end of her amnesia and everything might go back into place. But alas, there came a point where Meena stopped remembering anything about any of the pictures Ash showed or the apartment, no matter how detailed Ash and Johnny's storytelling was. It was disheartening, but it didn't spoil the visit. Actually, Meena couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun.

All they really did was play some video games, eat microwave pizza, and talk. But it was so easy to talk to the others, and the hours slipped by without Meena noticing. When her mother called her to ask if she needed a ride home it was already past 9pm. Meena's friends assured her she had a ride home, so she declined her mother's offer and settled back onto the couch. They had switched from video games to a corny anime they were making fun of while watching. Meena just sighed happily, all worries about lost memories temporary forgotten as she enjoyed a moment of her "new" life.

The early awkwardness from the truck had faded quite a bit and Meena was quickly learning her friends didn't really bother with any kind of personal space. Johnny had his arm around her again and Meena let herself lean into his shoulder. She figured she ought to get use to this whole girlfriend-thing sooner or later. His hand was absentmindedly futzing with her ear in a way that was familiar and comforting. Ash had started the night sitting proper in her spot of the couch, but everytime she got up to get something or change something, she'd move spots and climb over her friends to get where she wanted to go. She was currently lying stomach down on her friends' collective laps, her chest and head lying on Meena's thighs and her legs stretched out on Johnny's. Their contact has made Meena a little flustered at first, especially considering they were all dressed for summer with more skin and hair showing, but she had soon adjusted and took comfort in their contact.

Between getting to work and sing at the theater and having such close friends (as well as a very agreeable boyfriend), she marveled at how perfect her life seemed now compared to a couple of years ago. Along with that thought, a pit formed in her stomach. She had kept secrets from her family about her love life and maybe other things as well for all she knew. On top of that, her grandmother's health had suffer from a stroke that would affect her the rest of her life (however long that was.) Meena shuttered a bit, realizing that while she had made close friends, but put distance between her and her family. There was nothing she could do about her grandmother's situation, but she had chosen to keep secrets from her family, hiding a part of herself from the only animals she thought she never hide from. Meena didn't feel entirely comfortable with that, but didn't really think she was in a place to tell her family about a relationship she didn't know much about.

The whole thing sat uneasily with her. It must have shown on her face, because she felt Johnny's voice rumble through his chest as he asked. "You okay?" Meena glanced up to find him looking at her with thoughtful and tired eyes.

"Yeah… just tired." She lamely answered. It wasn't a total lie. It was getting late and her eyes were starting to feel heavy.

"Ya wanna head out?" Johnny's voice was low and comforting. She could tell how close his mouth was to the top of her head and it made her flush, but she didn't want to pull away. She managed a little nod, not wanting to meet his gaze, but still felt a sting of disappointment when he started pulling his arm back to get up. "Hey Ash, we're gonna- … Ash?" Johnny started before looking down.

Meena looked down too and realized Ash was dead asleep. A smile tugged at Meena's lips as she carefully maneuvered her hands under the porcupine and picked her up. Meena was pleased to find she had remembered the apartment layout and took Ash to her room while Johnny shut off the TV and cleaned up a bit. Ash didn't even stir when she was placed in her bed. Meena found some sticky notes and left one telling the porcupine they left and they'd see her tomorrow, before heading out to meet Johnny.

The thoughts of secrets and her family from before still hung heavy in Meena's head. Honestly, it annoyed her. On the one hand, she had an itching urge to tell her mother and be rid of the secretary as soon as possible. On the other hand, she really didn't understand the nature of her and Johnny's relationship. In the car ride back to her house, her eyes kept drifting towards Johnny, the animal with the most knowledge about their relationship. Questions she had been too shy to ask before were bubbled up in the back of her throat with new, burning curiosity. She'd grown comfortable next to him and her normal nerves were numbed from tiredness.

"Johnny?" She hummed as they drove and he tilted his head towards her to show his attention. "You asked me out, right?"

Johnny smiled as he kept his eyes on the road and nodded. "Mm hmm."

"Why?" Meena's brain was too tired for subtlety. She wanted to know why they were together. What's more, she wanted desperately to remember him. But, for now, she would settle for answers.

Johnny looked surprised for a moment before smirking. "Uh, cause I loiked you?" They both knew that wasn't the answer she was looking for, and it earned him an unimpressed look from Meena.

"Why?" Fond as she was of him, the fact still remained that Johnny could have picked from a large number of, quite frankly, more conventionally attentive animals.

Johnny's knowing smile widen. "You've asked this before, ya know."

Meena's eyes narrowed. He was toying with her. "Well, what'd ya say last time I asked?"

They were already coming up to the corner of Meena's street. Johnny slowed at the stop sign and leaned over towards Meena. "I said….I had a thing curvy girls." Meena straighten up as her face went scarlet. "And of all your lovely curves, my favorite was ya smile." He said as he grinned cheekily at her.

Meena stared blankly and immediately calmed down as she realized she'd just been strung along for a corny pickup line. She tried to scowl at him, be it just morphed into an adorable pout. "Oh you're terrible." She scolded lightly, trying to will the red away from her face.

"You agreed to go out wit me." Johnny cheerfully reminded.

Meena's scowl wouldn't hold and a smile worked its way into her face. She shoved him playfully and leaned into him. They were getting close to her house and Meena realized she didn't want the ride to end. She didn't want to leave Johnny. "Come on, what did you _actually_ say?" Meena insisted as the truck stopped in front of her house. The lights were out and it didn't look like anyone was up.

Johnny kept his gaze forward even after the truck had stopped. "I told you I loiked ya cause I didn't have to pretend around ya. I just always loiked bein' near ya." He started, looking less confident now. "You always laughed at my dumb jokes and you made me happy whenever I was wit ya. It made me want to be around ya more." He sighed, scratching the back of his neck and leaning back in his seat. And more into her. But still not meeting her gaze. "Look, I'm not daft, I get why you're surprise we're togethe' and all. But… I don't know how to explain it. I just felt bette' around you and I wanted you to feel happy around me." Johnny's face was ernest and flushed.

Meena suddenly got the feeling she was in over her head. She'd remembered enough about him to be interested by him. She'd remembered the moment he'd started interacting with her and she'd learned he was well mannered and charming along with talented and stereotypically handsome. She had thought 'Well, he's definitely gonna be popular' and had honestly thought she knew better than to catch feelings for a generic heartthrob like him. So much for that.

Still, Meena felt like he was confessing his feelings all over again. Meanwhile, she couldn't remember developing feeling for him or even seeing him as an option. She decided to try a different question to get him off the hot seat. "Ummm… w-when did you realize you liked me?"

Johnny relaxed at that question and puffed out a laugh. "About two months after everyone else knew." He looked over at Meena with an easy smile. "Apparently, I'm not very subtle. Ash was the first t' point out I was actin' doopier around ya. Then my dad started askin' who this 'Meena-girl' I kept goin' on about was. I'm pretty dense when it comes t' this stuff, so it kinda took me awhile t' figure it out." He looked sheepish and even under his hair and dim light, Meena could tell he was blushing. "Honestly, I didn't really know until David showed up."

"Whose David?" Meena asked as she settled in for a story, cozily curled up on the leather seats. The heat had died down since the sun had set, so Meena was quite comfortable against the leather seats and Johnny's shoulder.

Johnny sighed and rolled his eyes. "Eh, some guy Moon hired t' help move props around. 'E was an polar bear and theater nerd. All around alroight guy. … and then 'e started talkin' t' you." One of Johnny's hands rose and made lazy circular motions in the air. "'E'd always go outta his way t' tell you how pretty ya looked or try t' impress ya with some story or another. And just like that, I suddenly couldn't stand the guy! Ash was laughing at my sorry arse the whole time 'e was working wit us and tryin' to flirt wit ya."

Meena blushed and was smiling ear to ear. "Didn't think you were the jealous type." She teased softly as a yawn pulled at her mouth. They were curled up so close to each other that they were practically whispering back and forth. "So did this David ever actually ask me out?"

"Yep."

"Really? Did I say yes?"

"Nope!" Johnny chirped with the smuggest smile on his face. He turned his head towards her and hummed. "Guess I lucked out."

His smile was pretty close to the corner of her mouth. Meena was honestly impressed she wasn't freaking out or even uncomfortable. In fact, there was no where she'd rather be than snuggled up in Johnny's truck just talking to him. Memories or none, some part of her remembered this. Some part of her felt so at peace here, knowing she'd probably spent many hours in this truck talking about just about anything with the gorilla pressed against her. His voice and contact was comforting in a way she couldn't quite explain, but it made her want to stay right at his side.

And if she could just moved her trunk a bit, she could kiss him. Meena blinked as that thought hit her and imbedded itself into her mind. She could kiss him. All she'd have to do was titled head a little and she could kiss him. Was she supposed to do that? Were you allowed to try to kiss someone you hardly remembered? What was the protocol for relationships where one party lost their memory? They were both leaned into each other as it was. Was Johnny leaning on purpose?

Meena's mind started frantically trying to calculate what her next move should be. She was losing her nerve and her eyes darted around anxiously. Only then did she catch sight of the lite window on the front of her house. Meena shot up right. Crap, had someone seen them? Johnny had been leaning against Meena and fell against her arm when she suddenly moved away. His head popped up to see what she was looking at and saw the lite window. "Shite!" He breathed out.

Meena fumbled with the door handle and let herself out. "I should get going. See you tomorrow!" She called hurriedly before hopping out and speed walking to her house. She could still feel Johnny's eyes on her. At the door, she looked back and they quickly exchanged smiles before she ducked into her house. Her heart was jackhammering in her chest as she leaned back against her front door. Distantly, she heard his truck start up and drive off. She took a deep breath, sent a quick pray that no one in her family saw her and Johnny cuddled up just then, and pushed off into the living room.

The lite window had been the large living room window, so Meena pokes her head in to see who was up. She saw her grandmother, dressed in nightwear and sat in a comfy chair, looking at the window where Johnny's truck had been. The old elephant made no indication she saw or heard Meena enter the living room. Meena wondered if maybe her grandmother was just spacing out and considered turning back to go straight to her room. Before she could turn to leave, she heard her grandmother's soft voice. "You need t' be careful with that one."

Meena froze up inside. Her grandmother's words sounded a little hazy, but they were calm and direct. "Y-you mean Johnny? He's not dangerous!" Meena's voice was hushed but defensive.

"Oh, no." Her grandmother cooed. "No, not dang-... not dan-ge-ous." The old elephant struggling with the last word as some of her 'r's were weak, but there was determination in her expression as she kept talking. She turned her head to give her granddaughter a sympathizing gaze. "But he's a young man. And young men are so… sensitive. He's always looking at you, I've seen it. That boy's got eyes fo' you." She smiled approvingly. "He's a nice boy." Turning her head back to the window, she added. "And handsome too."

Meena's felt her face heat up. Out of everyone in her family, her grandmother would be the least to care what specie Meena dated. Still, although her grandmother would probably be nothing but supportive, the old elephant couldn't keep a secret to save her life. So Meena lied. "He's, uh, he's just a friend, grandma. Really." She shuffled her feet and forced herself to look at her grandmother.

Her grandmother eyed her and smirk. "Well then, twry not to go bw **-...** breaking any hearts now." The old elephant corrected her speaking and chuckled at her poor granddaughter's fluttered state. She then moved to grab her walker and get up. "Oof, it's late. I should get to bed befoe you're grandfather thinks I've gone off to join the circus. Don't twrouble yourself! I can get up." She shooed Meena back a bit when the younger elephant tried to help her up. Meena still stayed close by, just in case.

As much as seeing her grandmother struggle with the walker made Meena uneasy, it was relieving to hear her grandmother sound as jovial and carefree as ever. The old elephant bid Meena good night and made it to her to her room without trouble. Meena retreated to her room as well. She fell back in her bed with a heaving sigh, suddenly realizing how tired she was. The day had been more draining on her than she'd noticed. She pulled out her phone to set the alarm and found she had a text message from Johnny.

"made it home ok. did we get caught?"

Meena smiled and texted back.

"Almost. Good news is grandma approves of you."

Johnny sent back a number of happy emojis. Before she knew it, Meena found herself sending texts messages back and forth with Johnny rather than sleeping like she should have been. It was late, yet here she was, giggling over a text conversation like a middle schooler. Meena couldn't get over the bubbly feeling that had remained in her chest. Or the sharp sting of disappointment she'd felt when she had to say good night. She still wanted to be close to him. Wished he was there with her. It was the first time she'd known someone who could make her so nervous yet she still constantly wanted to be around them. Meena closed her eyes and lay back, letting the intoxicatingly giddy feel bask over her. She couldn't remember her relationship with Johnny, but some part of her remembered him. Some part of her still remembered and yearned for his presence. It was a confusing, almost scary sensation. But right now, it brought her more comfort than worry, so she just enjoyed the feeling her time with Johnny awoke in her and eventually drifted off to sleep.

—

 **sorry for the long chapter, but it was fun to write! With having to write in memories meena lost, its kind of like getting to write multiple fics in one!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Alright! Time to update this! I got some sweet comments here and on my tumblr so I'm all recharged to continue this!**

 **Now I know I said this last time but _this_ is my new favorite chapter! Get ready for a shippy feels!**

—

The week to follow was a hectic combination of literally everyone Meena knew trying to help jog her memory. Ash and Johnny had taken her around town to their normal hangouts whenever they could. Meena's mother would take her to campus and have her meet with professors she had had. Mr. Moon and Ms. Crawly found pieces of music Meena had performed and gave them to her in the hopes that singing them would help. Gunter had even tried hypnosis on her, which didn't end up doing anything. Even Nana Noodleman came down to the theater after hearing of Meena's condition to see her. It was all very flattering to Meena and she tried to go along with everyone's different methods for the most part.

It resulted in an interesting week. For the most part, it seemed her former memories just came back at random. She'd be working in a part of the theater she'd been in numerous times before, and suddenly remember something that happened there. Or be walking somewhere around town that's she had been to since getting her amnesia and have a flashback of some event that had happened there within the past two years she'd forgotten. It had become fairly unpredictable when she'd gain any memories back. Going to a place she hadn't been to since waking up in the hospital often helped, but it wasn't guaranteed.

In that week alone, Meena had tons of memories come back. She remembered a lot about her school and classes (to the point that learning anything new about her old classes made her wonder if she'd forgotten it or hadn't bothered remembering it in the first place). She had remembered the night her grandmother had been treated for her stroke when Meena had visited her doctor for a follow up on her amnesia. She now remembered months worth of time at the theater with all the ups and downs that came with that; remembering stressful shows, and a prank war that last four days straight, and dealing with all the new attention on the theater. All and all, Meena felt like she'd gained more or less a year's worth of memories back in that week.

And then, it all stopped. No matter what Meena did or how the others tried to help her, she just wasn't getting anymore memories back. Meena tried not to let that bother her, tried to remind herself that it could all be temporary and that her memories seemingly came back at random. But the days turned into weeks and before she knew it, it had been over three weeks since she'd remembered anything new. She was still better off now, more comfortable in her surroundings and her relations with everyone, but that fact that she still had months worth of memories missing ate away at her.

Although Meena got by fine on day-to-day life, working at the theater and preparing for the coming school year, if she was being completely honest with herself there was still something that truly irked her. And that thing was the fact she couldn't remember her entire relationship with Johnny. All seven months before waking up in the hospital were lost to her. At first, it hadn't bothered her much. In fact it was almost funny. Meena had remembered up to the point of admitting to herself she had feelings for Johnny and realizing these feelings probably wouldn't be returned. After that, it was a straight shot to waking up in a hospital with the gorilla she'd been hopelessly crushing on as her boyfriend! Almost seemed like a dream come true!

But that had been weeks ago and Meena just wanted to remember their time together. Fun as it was to hear Johnny tell their history as a couple, Meena wanted to remember it. She wanted to remember him as her boyfriend. It was all very frustrating to her to be starting off in a relationship he was seven months into. Because as much as she liked Johnny and being with him, she wasn't in love with him. Not like he was with her. And she hoped she had been in love with him before she'd gotten hit in the head.

Johnny, bless him, hadn't seemed bothered be their relationship setbacks. He never pushed anything or complained, and given how busy Meena had been with doctor appointments and testing of her condition, Johnny just seemed to be happy whenever they had the time to spend together.

Currently, they were both once again on Ash's couch. Meena had her legs thrown over the side and was practically lying against Johnny's chest. Johnny was sat in the middle of the couch with his arms around Meena and his chin reaching on the top of her head as he carried on a conversation with Ash next to him. Things were definitely different now. Meena no longer felt like she just playing the "girlfriend" part. But she didn't quite feel like a proper girlfriend yet either and realized she probably wouldn't so long as she couldn't remember their history.

Sighing, Meena tried to pay attention to the movie and/or her friends' debate on how realistic it was, but her mind would always drift back to Johnny. He was such a major part of her life now and she desperately wanted remember all he was to her. She felt like he was somehow the key to her remaining missing chunks of memory, but couldn't quite figured out how. Suddenly, a thought hit her.

"The garage." Meena breathes out as her eyes lit up.

"Ya say somethin', love?" Johnny just barely heard her soft voice.

Meena tilted her head up to look at him. "You live at your garage, right? I think I remembered you mentioning that." Johnny confirmed he was currently living in his father's garage while attempting to fix it up in preparation for Big Daddy's return. Meena's heart skipped a beat with excitement. She had had great luck with being places she couldn't remember. This seemed like a good chance to get some of her memory back. "I don't remember anything about it. Did we ever use to hang out there?"

It was always tricky with Johnny because of the black hair covering most of his face, but Meena was pretty sure he was blushing. His eye widen and he hesitated long enough for Ash to cut in. "Yeah, you've been there. Even before you two were together. Like, everyone from the theater met there a couple of times for Cards Against Humanity and stuff." Ash droned without looking away from the TV

Meena sat up smiling. She'd been there! That's means she probably had memories that took place there! "Can we go see it?" She asked turning her bright-eyed, hopefully stare directly on Johnny.

"Wot, right now?" Johnny asked.

"Ya might as well go now." Ash shrugged and turned off her TV. "This movie blows."

"I'll have know Scarface is a classic." Johnny smirked as he pushes himself off the couch to looked for his keys.

"Still blows." Ash hummed and pulled out her phone.

Johnny rolled his eyes and chuckled. He found his keys in one of his pockets and looked at Meena. He smiled. "So, garage then? Fair warning, the place is a mess."

Meena didn't care. She bounded up from the couch to follow him out. She stopped at the living room entrance and looked back at Ash still on the couch. "Aren't you coming, Ash?" Meena called back.

"Naw, I'm good. See ya around." Ash waved her friends off and became occupied with her phone. Meena lingered for a moment, but eventually left. Much less enthusiastically now.

She met Johnny outside by his truck and found herself looking back at the apartment as she got in. "Do you think she's okay?" Meena asked.

"Who, Ash?" Johnny glanced back at the apartment too before starting up the truck. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Well, my mom said I normally spent a lot of nights over with Ash to keep her company. She said Ash didn't like to be alone after her break up. But I haven't stayed over at all since I got out of the hospital." Meena leaned against the window with her cheek in her hand. "I just hope she's not lonely."

There was a couple minutes of silence before Johnny spoke. "Right, uh, here's the thing. It's true that when you 'n Ash started hangin' out you stayed over a lot. I did too. Ash wasn't used to bein' on her own at first and we kept her company. But she's gotten loads bette' since then." Johnny smiled reassuringly as he went on. "I've offered t' let her stay at the garage. Rosita offered too. Your mum even managed to convince her t' stay with you guys for a couple of days. She still decided t' go back in the end. Said she wanted the space t' figure herself out and whatnot. Besides, she broke up with Lance two years ago. She is well and over that prat!" Johnny beamed at this and Meena smiled in return.

Meena had to admit, Ash didn't seem particularly lonely. The porcupine has been quite comforting with requesting hangout time and alone time as needed. So that was comforting.

Johnny's smile faltered a little as he cleared his throat and continued. "The truth is ya haven't spent the night there in a awhile." He seemed like he was choosing his next words very carefully. Eyes fixed on the road and not meeting hers. "Ash knows about ya family and how… protective they are of you. Ya never lied really, but if your family asked, you'd always say you were at a friend's place and they'd just assume it was Ash. She kinda covered for ya when we were together."

Johnny's voice was a few octaves higher than normal. He sounded uneasy, but Meena didn't pay that much mind. Instead, she focused on what he had said and could only think 'Well, duh!' How had she not figured that out before. She had been dating this guy for seven months! Obviously she needed as excuse for going out to see him. And Meena might suck at lying but she definitely wasn't afraid of using half truths. Honestly, she was just happy Ash wasn't lonely. She glanced at Johnny and caught him staring at her out of the corner of his eye. He quickly fixed his gaze.

"Hey Johnny?" Meena started in what she hoped was a calm voice. "Are there other secrets I'm keeping from my family? Other things I should know not to tell them?" Meena was still new to the idea of hiding anything from her family. As uncomfortable as it made her, she didn't want to slip up and spill a secret she barely knew about. Amnesia really made this whole secret keeping business a lot harder.

Thankfully, Johnny shook his head. "Naw, I can't think of anythin' else. You're really pretty honest with them. It's more you just… haven't mentioned us yet." Johnny shrugged a bit. He caught the look on Meena's face and slid his free hand into hers. "Listen, I know this secret stuff isn't fun. I don't like it any bette' than you. But there's reasons we kept puttin' off telling everyone. You might not remember this, but there were a bunch of hate crimes recently. Things have been kinda' bad."

Meena did remember. Along with good memories, she'd gained bad ones too. Memories of how often the news was violent and unnerving. One memory in particular was of a group of protesters that had marched down the center of town, right past the theater, waving signs and angrily chanting "One man, one woman, one species" over and over. Mr. Moon had closed up all the windows that day and everyone did their best to ignore them. But all Meena could think was how this wasn't supposed to happen in their town.

Meena tighten her hold on Johnny's hand. "I remember." She whispered. She leaned into him for comfort, trying to will the memory from her mind.

There was a long silence before he gave her hand a comforting squeeze and tried to cheer her up. "Eh, don't worry love. I'm sure things will turn around soon." His voice was calming, and Meena managed a meager smile in return for his efforts. "By the way, we're nearly there."

Meena's head shot up and she eagerly pushed aside worrying in exchange for her earlier excitement. Her anticipation for the garage immediately chucked all other thoughts out of her head and demanded all of her attention. Johnny had barely parked the truck when she hoped out and dashed to the door. She tried the unmoving door handle before hearing Johnny chuckle at her. "Yeah, it's locked." Rather than catch up with her, he tossed Meena his keys and said it was the key with a red band. Meena had the door open and was inside before Johnny even made it to his door. He smiled and seemed content to leave her to explore on her own.

Meena entered the back of the garage, greeted by a work area with scattered wooden crates, a small punching bag, and car parts piled up on the crates and floor. To one side a couple of partly gutted cars were off in the main garage area, along with many left out tools. To the other side was an open door to stairs going down which looked like they led to an underground living space. The place smelled like one would expect a garage to, the scent of motor oil and old rubber tires hanging heavy in the air.

Nothing set off any immediate bells in Meena's head, so she turned to the stairs and headed down. The base of the stairs opened up into a small living room with a beat up old couch, a coffee table, a large TV console, and some mismatched lounge chairs. True to Johnny's word, the living space littered with books, shoes, clothes, and and whatnot. It wasn't terrible, but the space did look a bit messy and well lived-in. Meena walked past all this and through the kitchen to the hallway on the other side. She tried to ignore the pit growing in her stomach as she looked for something, anything, that was familiar to her.

The kitchen was plain and unassuming with nothing catching her attention. Down the hall, the feeling of being out of place kept nagging at her. Shouldn't she be able to at least figure out where everything was? She'd open what she thought was a bathroom door only to find out it was a closet. She couldn't place anything. This wasn't right. This wasn't how things were suppose to go.

She glanced at each of the rooms along the hall, but didn't see anything that was the least bit familiar. When she saw a room that cleaning wasn't in use, she figured it belonged to Johnny's father and didn't enter. The room at the end of the hall was unmistakable Johnny's. The door had been left wide open revealing a bedroom with posters and pictures hanging from every wall and clothes haphazardly piled up on the floor. The only items Meena recognized were the nearly destroyed piano from the theater that she'd thought Mr. Moon had thrown out, and Johnny's skateboard leaned up against it. Standing in the doorway, Meena scanned the room. She took in every detail she could; the dumbbells sticking up from under the bed, the little potted plants in the windowsill, sheet music piled up on the piano bench, the old fan whirring away trying to cool down the room. Nothing. She remembered nothing.

Meena took a few steps back, unable to enter the room. Why wasn't this like Ash's apartment? As soon as Meena had entered the porcupine's apartment, she'd known she'd been there before. Meena had no sense of being here before. She felt the same awkwardness from being in a stranger's home for the first time, only it was worse because she had just gone through his entire apartment without him. She felt uncomfortable in her surroundings and like she was being invasive. Her legs automatically backtracked and took her back down the hall. 'What if I can't get any old memories back anymore? What if, no matter what I do, I'll never get any of those memories back?!" Numbly, she walk back to the living room and sat ridged on the couch, head down and shoulders in.

Johnny was in the kitchen with his head in the fridge at this point. He must have heard Meena walk past because he called out. "Hey, ya want something t' drink?" Meena heard him close the fridge door and walk into the living room. "Sorry again about the mess. I haven't gotten a chance t'... Meena?" Johnny was in front of her now. The sodas he brought in were discarded on the coffee table and he was squatting down in front of her to meet her gaze. "Wot's wrong?"

Meena glanced at him, but couldn't hold eye contact and looked to the side. "...I couldn't remember anything." She whispered. She felt her lip quiver and her breath hitch. 'Oh no, don't cry! Please don't cry in front of him!'

Johnny's voice was gentle as he spoke. "That's alroight."

"No it's not." Meena's voice cracked. She was tired. Tired of not remembering and not knowing for sure. Tired of the guilt that had sat heavy in her stomach nearly the whole month after learning of her and Johnny's relationship, and it was particularly heavy now. Her words fell out in a broken voice. "I can't remember this. I can't remember us. I'm not even really your girlfriend! You've been nothing but nice and patient with me and I can't even reme-."

"Oi!" Johnny grabbed her face and forced her to look at him, snapping her out of her monologue. Tears were streaming down her face now and her breath was uneven. "This. Is not. Your fault." His said softly yet sternly. "None of this is your fault. Okay? You're here now and you're alroight. Everything is alroight. Even if ya don't get your memory back. Ya gonna be okay."

Meena sniffed. "B-but… I'm not your Meena. I'm not the same girl you were with before I got hit in the head. Doesn't that bother you?"

"No." Johnny's answer was immediate. "I mean, yeah, I was scared when you first lost your memory. I thought you'd think I was trouble or a creep for hangin' around ya so much. I was scared ya wouldn't want anythin' to do with me." The memory of finding Johnny smoking in the back alley came to Meena's mind. He had looked so unsure and stressed. Meena's attention was brought back to the present as Johnny continued. "But that didn't happen. And you're here now. I mean, ya could be dead! Ya know when ya got hit at the theater, you weren't moving. At all. During the drive over, I heard one of the paramedics say somethin' about a possible coma. Maybe I was overreacting, but for a while there, I was scared I was gonna lose you." Johnny's thumb brushed away some tears and Meena leaned into his palm, her eyes sliding shut. "I much prefer this." He reassured in a hush. Meena relaxed and her forehead fell against his.

After a minute, her breathing evened out and she was able to look at him again. She gave him a genuine smile which he returned, before he pulled back and his smile shifted into a smirk. "And besides, even if ya had never remembe'ed anythin' about me," His voice had turned cocky. "I won ya over once, didn't I? Betcha I could do it again!" Meena laughed and kissed him.

She'd kissed him! She hadn't even thought to do it, it had just been on impulse. She had thought about kissing him before, more often than she'd like to admit, but she hadn't dared to try. She hadn't thought of a good way to do so, convinced her trunk would get in the way and make it awkward. What she hadn't been banking on was muscle memory. Her trunk had instinctively wrapped around the back of his neck and with a gentle tug, closed the distance between them. She had definitely done that before.

Her brain switched back on a moment later and she quickly pulled back a few inches. "OhmygoshImsosorry!" Her face was burning and she felt like her heart going a mile a minute. Johnny, on the other hand, just looked a bit stunned. "I shouldn't have- Well- I-I mean-uh, I should have asked first! I'm sorry!" Words seemed to be crashing into each other in her brain and tumbling out of her mouth.

The light came back on in Johnny's eyes and a smirk tugged at his lips. With his hands on Meena's knees for support, he leaned back in and stole another kiss. When he pulled back a while later, he whispered. "Now we're even."

Meena smiled into the next kiss, her hands finding their way to his shoulders. Johnny let his arms loop around Meena's midriff as he knelt in front of her. Now this felt familiar to her. Meena let herself act solely on instinct, her thoughts turning into a blurry buzz in the back of her mind. She lose track of the kisses, lost track of the time. At some point, she wound up on her back, pressed against the couch. Gentle kisses lasting longer now. It felt like they only broke for quick breaths. Eventually Johnny propped himself up on his elbows and hovered above her. "Still worried?"

Meena smiled up dreamily. "I think I'm okay."

—

 **Woot! 8 chapters in and they finally kiss!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9. Sweet lil follow up to the last chapter. not much to say, so enjoy**

 **—-**

Meena awoke to the buzzing of her phone against the coffee table. She groaned and pushed herself up enough to grab it. She saw it was her mother's face on the screen before answering the call. "Mmm… hello?"

"Now Meena, I know you're an adult and all now, but you just got out of the hospital!" Leslie's voice gently scolded.

"It's been like a month, mom." Meena droned back.

"And you have amnesia! And, no matter what, you're still my baby girl! So could you just let me know if you wanna stayed the night at Ash's." Her mother chuckled out.

Meena grimaced at that. Leslie thought she was at Ash's apartment. Was Meena being dishonest by not correcting her mother. "...sorry."

"It's okay baby! I understand if you don't wanna spend time with you family anymore!" Leslie's tone was humorously wistful. She even made a phony sniffling sound.

Meena couldn't help but smile a little at that. "Mama! Itznot like that!" She drawled sleepily as she rubbed at her eye.

Her mother chuckled a bit in the other end of the line and asked if Meena wanted to be picked up. Meena of course declined and said she'd take the bus, then wish you mother a good day and ended the call before Leslie could question why Meena was taking the bus rather than riding with her.

Discarding the phone back in the coffee table, Meena looked back at the couch. Johnny was soundly asleep on it and had spread out to take up some of the room Meena left when she had sat up. Meena consider trying to reclaim her space and go back to sleep, but the soda from last night had left a stale taste in her mouth. Despite her body's protests, she pushed herself off the couch and ambled down the hall. Groggy and droopy-eyed, Meena shuffled through Johnny's room and into the adjoining bathroom. She groped around in the cupboard for her toothbrush and stuck it in her mouth. After a few moments of sleepy brushing, it dawned on her.

Meena stared wide-eyed at her reflection in the mirror. She had a toothbrush! She knew she had a toothbrush! She had also somehow known about the bathroom connected to Johnny's room even though she hadn't gone in his room last night. Meena spat quickly into the sink and darted back to Johnny's room. All sleepiness effectively replaced with curiosity, she looked around with new eyes. She recognized some of her own clothing items amongst the piles of clothes, and knew that the little plants in sill were hers! When her eyes landed on Johnny's dresser, a sudden thought popped up. 'The top drawer is mine.' Meena had no clue where the thought had come from or how she knew such information. Still, she went over and pulled open the top drawer. She found it had a few of her hoodies, one of her old music binders, some notes, and other odds and ends. How much time had she spent here?

In some kind of a daze state, Meena walk over and sat heavily on Johnny's unmade bed. She grabbed what she thought was a pillow and pulled it onto her lap. When she looked she found it was actually one of her favorite sweatshirts with a pillow stuffed in it. Discarding it, she tried to process all this new information and what it all meant. She knew stuff, but couldn't remember when she'd learned it. And between the plants and clothes and how much of her stuff was here, she was a lot more ingrained into Johnny's life than she'd realized. Lying back in the bed, she didn't know how to feel. She wasn't unhappy, just… shocked. Meena had never been in a real relationship before and was surprised just how comfortable she'd let herself become with Johnny. Suddenly, 22 months didn't seem like that long. And it had taken even less than that for Johnny to break down her walls and get so close to her. All this swirled in Meena's head as she listened to her heart pound and felt her face flush. She didn't even hear the bedroom door open.

Meena's quiet moment of reflection was broken when Johnny flopped on top of her stomach. "Oof! Johnny! Whyyyy?" Meena chuckled out.

Johnny's head bobbed back up with a dopey grin. He got comfortable next to her and propped himself up on his elbow. "I wondered where ya went off to. Wot cha thinkin', beautiful?"

Meena stared up at the ceiling. "I think… I remembered some stuff. Or, no, it's more like… I just know stuff." She sat up and huffed. "I know that I know stuff, but I don't know how I know it! Ya know?"

Johnny just squinted at her. "... No?"

Meena chewed at her lip. "Okay, so like, I knew I had my stuff in your dresser and bathroom, but I don't remember putting it there. And the plants in your window, I think I know those are mine. Right?" Johnny nodded along to everything she said. She continued. "How long has my stuff been here?"

Johnny sat up and put his arm around her as he spoke. "A while. We'd team up for a some lightin' and prop designs for shows. So we'd work here and pull all nighters. If your family asked, ya just said you were doin' theater work. Which, I mean, wasn't a lie. Ya started leaving stuff behind on accident." Meena leaned into his hold as he went on. "Oh, and then one time, I had to go t' the hospital for a broken leg."

"How did you break your leg?"

"Eh, it's not important." Johnny quickly tried to brush over the question. "Always, after I was sent home, you just showed up and insisted on staying here for a little over' a week. Apparently ya didn't think I could take care of myself, so you basically lived here for about a week and made sure I didn't do anything stupid. Ya mum knew and thought it was nice and responsible of ya. This was all before we were together too."

Johnny rested back against the headboard with Meena against his chest. Meena felt so at peace there. Her face was still flush and her chest was warm in the most pleasant way, she didn't want to be anywhere else in the world. Still, she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Did you break your leg doing something stupid?" She asked. Johnny mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't quite hear. "What?"

"... I kinda fell off the roof of the garage. … Thought I could fix the sign on it." Johnny said quietly. Meena tsked at him before smiling. Her eye slid shut as she listened to Johnny's heartbeat and felt his hand futz with her ear. It was still the early morning and Meena had nowhere to be. She hoped Johnny didn't either. The air was heavy and lazy, tempting her to fall back asleep right there…. until the loud sound of Johnny's rumbling stomach broke the silence.

Meena, despite her best efforts, couldn't keep from laughing. Poor Johnny looked so embarrassed. He stuttered out an apology and they decided it was time for breakfast.

Once in the kitchen, Meena found herself once again knowing things, but not knowing how she knew them. She found the floor, sugar, and baking soda without much trouble, unsure of why she knew where to look. She also knew not to let Johnny do any of the cooking when he offered to help. Though she wasn't sure if that was from a subconscious memory or if she was just clued in to the fact Johnny couldn't cook from all the takeout boxes and frozen dinner in the kitchen. Johnny was instead put on dish detail while Meena mixed up the ingredients for pancakes.

She happily mixed away and hummed to herself. In the glass of the microwave, she saw Johnny sneaked up behind her to hug her, then suddenly stop and decide against it. He backed off and shoved his hands in his pockets. "...eh, Meena?" He said uneasily. "I'm not… I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?" Meena gave him a puzzled look. She was about to ask why he'd asked that, but Johnny was already blurting out an explanation. "I mean, last night ya said ya don't really feel loike you're… 'my Meena.' And I'm sure I'm not the same Johnny you remembe'. But I'm still actin' loike your boyfriend and I don't actually know if I should be. I know you're shy and kinda have trouble speakin' your mind but… I just wanna make sure you're not keepin' quiet about feeling weirded out by me." Johnny looked down at his feet as he shifted nervously. "Truth is I'm not sure how I'm supposed to act. I've just been guessing as I go. I just wanna make sure you're ok with everything that's been going on."

Meena stared owlishly at him. Thinking back, she had definitely been surprised by the amount of affection she'd received from Johnny. And nearly stupefied when she learned of their relationship. But she hadn't actually been uncomfortable with his contact. If anything, she gained comfort from it, even back when she woke up in the hospital and had no idea why he and Ash were there. Setting down the mixing bowl, Meena went over and pulled Johnny into a tight hug. Smiling, she answered honestly. "No, I'm not uncomfortable. I like having you close."

Johnny melted into her hug, bringing his arms around her to hold her close. She could feel him smiling into her shoulder. A thought dawned on Meena and she pulled back to ask. "What about me?"

"Uh, wot about you?" Johnny cocked his head to the side as he asked.

"Do you wish I was acting more like…. well, like a girlfriend?" Meena ask as she when back the stove to pour the pancake batter. "Like, do you wish spent more time here? I saw my sweatshirt had a pillow stuffed in it, so I take it my presence is missed?"

"Oh god, you saw that?!" Johnny's voice was panicked. Looking over, Meena was sure she'd never seen him so embarrassed. He stood in what looked like absolute horror. She watched as he tried desperately to explain. "Shite! It's not wot ya think! I promise, I just… I mean the shirt kinda smelled loike you and- wait no, is that weird? That's weird." Deep down, Meena knew she shouldn't be enjoying this as much as she was. But he was so cute.

She let her poor boyfriend struggle for a few seconds before giving him a reassuring kiss in the cheek and trying to sooth his nerves. "Don't worry, you're okay." She giggled sweetly at him. "I'm not weirded out. Honestly… I think it's kind of sweet."

Saying this seemed to relax Johnny a little, but he still couldn't face her. Instead, he buried his face into her shoulder, hiding in the T-shirt fabric. He let out an embarrassed groan and Meena hugged him comfortingly, trying her best not to laugh. After a moment, Johnny finally managed to speak. "Ya don't have to act loike anythin'. Really, you're not actin' as different as you think you are. You're still Meena." His arms came back around her again. "I know things aren't gonna be the same as before and I don't need them to be. I just… I want us to stay together. Loike this. … As long as that's wot you want too."

Meena was pretty sure her grin would split her face if it got any wider. She assured him that was what she wanted too. They stood like that until the smell of burning pancake batter and the threat of smoke detectors going off forced they to part and save their breakfast.

 **—**

 **It's fun writing all of Johnny's worries and concerns about the situation, but only from Meena's pov. There could be a whole list of worries Johnny has and Meena wouldn't know... yet**


End file.
